Xenophobic violence has become a perennial feature in post-Apartheid South Africa.ii Indeed, since 1994, tens of thousands of people have been harassed, attacked, or killed because of their status as outsiders or foreign nationals.iii Xenophobic violence generally refers to any acts of violence targeted at foreign nationals or “outsiders” because of their being foreign or strangers. It is an explicit targeting of outsiders for violent attacks despite other material, political, cultural or social forces that might be at play.iv The main characteristics of this violence in South Africa include murder, assaults, looting, robbery, arson attacks, displacement and threats of violence.
Xenophobic Violence in South Africa 1994-2018
